emerging artist: Jasmine Wallace
BIOGRAPHY
Jasmine
Wallace is a Canadian Sculptor Born in Prince George, British Columbia,
Canada. She comes from a family of self taught artists and grew up in
the artist community of Vancouver Island. Influenced by the various
disciplines of the studio artists that surrounded her, she quickly began
an art making practice using whatever materials were at hand. Since
that time her art making practice has been constant and diverse. In 2005
she graduated from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design with a Minor
in Drawing and a Major in Ceramics. During that time she studied abroad
as an assistant on a large public sculptural project with Professor Neil
Forrest at the Sculpture Symposium, International Ceramic Center in
Guldageraard, Denmark. In 2010 she completed a Master’s of Fine Arts
with a Major in Ceramics and a Minor in Museum Studies at the University
of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has exhibited extensively
throughout Canada and the United States. Currently she lives and works
in Vancouver.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Witnessing the processes of time and history – construction,
deconstruction and the transformation of cities with the resulting
affects on the landscape are the main source material for the work. I
am interested largely in the spaces that have been abandoned, destroyed
and transformed by such actions, such as dead zones, pockets of lands
cut off by roadways, abandoned industrial areas and residual landscapes.
In these locations the natural environment and the built environment
interact. Within these forgotten spaces the two worlds are allowed to
form a relationship freely without any form of maintenance or control.
The resulting relationships are the main inspirations for my sculptures,
drawings and installations.
Focusing on how plants and organic life intermingle within urban
centers, each work deals with the tension between the natural world and
the built world. Drawing inspiration from the cracks in sidewalks and
other concrete constructions where plants defiantly push themselves
through; I am reminded of the constant wrestling between the built and
the natural. We can all witness the persistence of the natural world
through the invasive grasses and weeds that bust through sidewalks, tear
down fences and destroy gutters. What is most inspiring is this idea
that no matter how hard we try to pave over nature, hide or destroy it,
it keeps fighting back and persevering. These small acts of defiance are
positive affirmations of the endurance of life in our seemingly chaotic
and unstable world – that no matter what happens – life will persist.
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